Editorial: Give up the attack on students' voting rights

By John Terhune/Journal & Courier--A steady flow of people take advantage of the early voting available Tuesday, November 1, 2011, at the Pay Less Super Market Super Market, 2200 Greenbush Street in Lafayette. Poll worker Mike Smith said over 50 people voted in the first hour after the early voting center opened at noon.

An assault on the voting rights of more than 11,000 out-of-state students at Purdue University - and for tens of thousands more in other Indiana college communities - has ended. For now.

On Wednesday, an Indiana House committee amended a bill that would have denied access to voter registration for students who pay out-of-state rates at Indiana's universities. The blowback from student groups, not to mention county clerks who were supposed to be helped by the bill, left House Bill 1311's grip tenuous, at best.

While the provision is gone for the 2013 General Assembly session, the bill's questions about residency qualification have been sent to a summer study committee. (Other parts of HB 1311 - including allowing counties to use electronic poll lists and electronic signature pads - are still headed for a full Indiana House vote.)

No matter when it's debated, there are plenty of problems here.

One problem with HB1311 is where it's aimed. State Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, has said the goal is to stop the temptation to vote in two different states. That's a valid concern - even if it's not backed by evidence that it is happening among Indiana's out-of-state college student ranks. But the law already covers that possibility; voting in two different states is a Class D felony.

Mayfield also said the bill would cut down on costs and headaches in college communities when it comes to managing voter rolls. Again, that's a valid argument. But it doesn't hold up, particularly when county clerks in university towns lobby against the bill. Tippecanoe County Clerk Christa Coffey said the county encourages Purdue students to register to vote in their campus town. It was the same story in Monroe County, home of Indiana University.

The biggest problem, though, is one that won't go away by the time a study committee convenes this summer. The bill is likely unconstitutional. Similar efforts to screen college students and weed them out of local, Waller County, Texas, elections were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1979.

The voter suppression effort here needs to be put out of its misery.

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Editorial: Give up the attack on students' voting rights

An assault on the voting rights of more than 11,000 out-of-state students at Purdue University ? and for tens of thousands more in other Indiana college communities ? has ended. For now.